The importance of having an SSL: UPDATED

Google are increasingly creating new ways to ensure that its users’ personal details are secure by flagging ‘non-secure sites’.

This focus on security means that websites which don’t have an SSL certification are at risk of being flagged as insecure – As of July 2018 this will mean all HTTP websites opened in Google Chrome. SSL stands for ‘Secure Sockets Layer’ and is responsible for handling all of the sensitive information such as customer names, phone numbers, addresses and credit card numbers that come through your site. Without an SSL, visitors to your site will receive warning messages advising them not to fill in personal details due to the security risk. This could have a huge impact on conversion rates and the success of any marketing campaigns sending users to your site.

At Clicky, ensuring that our clients are following the most up to date and relevant security procedures on their websites is imperative to us.

SSLs are becoming increasingly important as Google creates more ways to penalise those who are not using the right certificates, we are on hand to support those who have not yet upgraded to HTTPS.

The padlock symbol next to your URL makes your security status universally recognisable to all users, allowing them to feel comfortable inputting personal details to request brochures and make purchases. However, this can also have a negative impact on those websites who do not have the padlock symbol as users may not have complete trust in your website.

A legitimate SSL certificate provides peace of mind to your customers, meaning that they will be more likely to purchase from your website.

SSLs are easy to source and can be implemented in a relatively short amount of time, making them a very small investment to safeguard the site and ensure browsers aren’t flagging your site up in red.

Speak to your account manager if this is something you feel could be affecting your site, or alternatively, get in touch with a member of the team for more information.